Cremation urns, for holding the ashes of cremated humans and pets, always have some indicia on them indicating at least the name of the person or pet whose ashes are contained by the urn. Heretofore, this indicia has typically been provided on a plaque or label that is affixed to the urn, and it may contain other variable and personal information, such as the date of birth and death, a poem, a eulogy, etc. Heretofore there has been no practical way of having the personalized information, including name, as part of the urn itself.
Also, conventional cremation urns have had a limited number of styles, and have not made maximum use of the wide variety of aesthetic construction materials that are available, and usually have been almost completely of one material.
According to the present invention, a container particularly useful as a cremation urn, and a method of displaying ashes in a cremation urn, are provided that have a number of significant, practical advantages over the prior art. According to one aspect of the present invention, a cremation urn is provided which provides the personalized information (indicia) about the person whose ashes are contained within it as an integral part of a wall of the urn itself, e.g. in relief (such as sand blast into a piece of decorative stone such as granite or marble), or raised (such as cast as part of a bronze wall).
According to a second aspect of the invention, a container useful as a cremation urn is provided that is capable of using a wide variety of materials, and different types of material within a single urn (e.g. decorative stone, wood, and jewelry grade malleable metal together), with surface manifestations on portions of the container locating the other portions in place, in conjunction with removable connectors, such as bolts and T-nuts, or hooks and turnbuckles.
According to a third aspect of the invention, a method of displaying ashes is provided including constructing an urn with personalized variable human-readable indicia (including the name of a cremated human) formed as an integral part of the front wall of an urn containing the ashes.
According to the first aspect of the invention, there is provided a container comprising: A front wall member of rigid material, having a first face, and first and second side edges. Personalized, variable human-readable indicia formed as an integral part of the front wall member first face. First and second side wall members of rigid material, each having first and second faces. Means defining surface manifestations in each of the first and second side wall member second faces, the surface manifestations for engaging and holding in place the side edges of the front wall member. Top, rear, and bottom walls cooperating with the front and side wall members, to define an open interior volume, the first faces of the front and side wall members facing outwardly from the interior volume, the orientation of the top and bottom walls being determined the orientation of the indicia. And, connector means for connecting the front, side, top, rear, and bottom walls together.
The side walls may be wood, castable metal, or decorative stone, and the maximum dimensions of the front and side walls is about fifteen inches, and the weight of the container (urn) is about 7-16 pounds (depending upon the materials utilized).
According to the second aspect of the present invention, a container is provided comprising: A front wall member of rigid material, having a first face, and first and second side edges. First and second side wall members of rigid material, each having first and second faces. Top, rear, and bottom walls cooperating with the front and side wall members, to define an open interior volume, the first faces of the front and side wall members facing outwardly from the interior volume, the top and rear, and part of the bottom, walls being formed of a single piece of malleable material including a front edge flange which engages the first face of the front wall member to assist in holding the front wall in place, and side edges. Means defining surface manifestations in each of the first and second side wall member second faces, the surface manifestations for engaging and holding in place the side edges of the front wall member and the single piece of malleable material. And, connector means for connecting the front, side, top, rear, and bottom walls together. The bottom wall may comprise a first flange formed by the single piece of malleable material (e.g. jewelry grade metal, such as brass, or aesthetic plastic), and a second flange of malleable material having a lip portion engaging the front wall first face, and a support portion engaging a bottom edge of the front wall member. The second flange cooperates with the surface manifestations and the front edge flange to hold the front wall member in place. The bottom may comprise a removable bottom plate connected by removable fasteners to the first and second flanges.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, a method of displaying ashes of a cremated human is provided. The method comprises the following steps: (a) Forming a container with an interior volume defined by a front wall of material selected from the group consisting of decorative stone, aesthetic synthetic stone, and castable jewelry grade metal and having a front face, side walls, a top wall, a rear wall, a bottom wall, and a removable panel, by fastening the walls together. (b) Forming personalized, variable, human-readable indicia as an integral part of the front wall front face, the indicia including the name of a cremated human. (c) Removing the removable panel of the container to access the interior volume. (d) Inserting the ashes of the cremated human in the interior volume. (e) Replacing the removable panel. And, (f) displaying the container.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a container and method that are advantageous for the display of ashes of a cremated pet or human. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention, and from the appended claims.